


Not PonyTales or CottonTales, No, DuckTales! (Woo-oo!)

by RomanoffonamoR



Series: Marvel Cinematic Littleverse [7]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Age Play, Auntie Nat, Bigs and littles are known, F/F, Gen, Little Maria Hill, Littleverse, Maria Hill needs a hug, Maria is a little pretending to be big, Marvel Cinematic Littleverse, Non-Sexual Age Play, Past Child Abuse, Protective Natasha Romanoff, little Natasha romanoff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-14
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2019-02-02 02:07:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12717522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RomanoffonamoR/pseuds/RomanoffonamoR
Summary: Little Maria Hill is home alone when someone tries to break into her apartment.Scared out of her mind, she calls her Auntie Nat for help.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place about a month after the events of "Let it Go (Can't Hold It Back Anymore)" and "Littles 'R' Us". 
> 
> You really should read at least the first one in order to understand this one, since it's directly related. But if for some reason you decide not to, just know that Maria is lying to the world about being Big, and Natasha is the only one who knows the truth.

Little Maria didn’t know what to do. She’d double, triple, _quadruple_ checked her door locks when she’d come home, but still she felt unsafe and afraid. Her apartment was meant to be her sanctuary, a place that only she had access to, and where she could _be_ and _do_ whatever it was she needed to be or do in order to stay healthy and sane.

In order to survive.

Her apartment was supposed to be her safe space, but in that moment it felt like the scariest place in the whole wide world.

She was currently hiding underneath the coffee table, her face pressed to the carpet and her arms crossed protectively over her head. The banging and loud noises at the door had long since stopped, but her heart continued to race in her chest nearly fifteen minutes later.

She felt frozen to her spot, unable to move, not even to her bedroom where she knew she’d be safer if whomever had tried to enter her apartment eventually returned and tried again.

Would they return and try again? Would they come back, but maybe this time with the proper tools to get through her numerous reinforced door locks?

Maria whimpered at the thought of the banging and shouting starting all over again and finally managed to convince herself to wriggle out from beneath her hiding spot and up onto her feet.

On her mad dash to and then through her bedroom, she happened to notice her cellphone on the nightstand and grabbed it, before throwing open her closet door and quickly climbing inside.

Pulling the door shut behind her, she collapsed to the floor and crawled on her hands and knees in the dark until she hit the back wall. Her closet wasn’t very full, but there were enough clothes hanging above her that she thought maybe she’d be safe in there.

It took a few more minutes for her to calm down again and remember that she had her phone clutched tightly in her hands. She didn’t know why she’d taken it, since one of her rules was that she absolutely wasn’t allowed to call anyone, ever, when she was Little. The only exceptions being Kiddie Cabs if she was too far from home to walk, or 911 if the apartment was on fire.

And since neither of those things were currently true, she simply stared at her phone as she tried desperately not to cry.

She wanted someone to come help her. Someone to come tell her that she was safe, and that the scary men who had tried to break in weren’t coming back. She wanted a hug and a kiss and a promise that _everything would be alright_.

She wanted her Auntie Nat.

As soon as the thought crossed her mind she was unlocking her phone and scrolling through her contacts list, her fingers trembling as she tried unsuccessfully to swipe to the correct name and number. She had a lot of phone numbers in her phone, and a stupidly large number of agent’s last names also seemed to start with the letter R.

Eventually she managed to pull up the correct number and hesitated a moment between sending a message and making a phone call. Writing a message would be easier and less scary, except she wasn’t sure she knew how to spell the words she wanted to say. Biting her lip, she instead pressed the green phone button and closed her eyes, praying silently that the call would go through.

It did go through, and seconds later she heard the unmistakable voice of the only person in the world who actually knew about and _cared_ that she existed.

“Romanoff,” the voice on the other end of the line answered, followed by a few moments of silence.

Maria knew she was supposed to respond back, that she needed to ask for help if she was actually going to receive it, but the words felt trapped in her throat.

What if she asked and Nat said no? Or just laughed at her for being scared and then hung up the phone? Maria desperately tried thinking back to the only time she’d ever met the woman, but since it was weeks and weeks ago, she couldn’t remember if she’d actually been given permission to call her.

“Hill? You there?”

Maria whimpered in response but then quickly clasped a hand over her mouth to try and keep herself silent. This was a bad idea. A awful idea. Auntie Nat didn’t want to help her and she was going to be angry at her now for wasting her time.

_No one likes a bad girl, Maria._

_Bad girls don’t get to have friends._

Even with the hand over her mouth, the sudden sob that erupted from her throat echoed loudly throughout the tiny closet. She was going to cry and should really hang up the phone before the other woman heard and made fun of her.

_No one likes a crybaby._

_Crybabys don’t deserve to be loved._

“Maria? Are you Little right now? Are you okay? _Shit_ , please say something. _Fuck_.”

Maria quickly wiped at her face with her hand as a few of her tears dropped onto the phone’s screen. She didn’t like that Auntie Nat had cursed, but didn’t want to correct her and possibly be yelled at for it. She was already in _so much trouble_ for calling her, she didn’t want to make it worse by being a goody two shoes on top of being a scaredy cat.

“Maria, listen to me very carefully. I’ve tracked your current location from your phone’s GPS, and I’m on my way out the door to you now. As long as you’re safe, I need you to stay where you are, okay? If you wander off without your phone I won’t be able to find you and help you.”

Maria didn’t _feel_ safe, but since she had no intentions of leaving her hiding spot anytime soon she simply nodded her head and sniffled once more.

“Okay, Maria. I’m in the car now. I’ll put the phone on speaker in case you need me. Just stay on the line, okay? And don’t wander off.”

“‘Kay,” Maria whispered, though not into the phone specifically. Her own phone wasn’t on speaker, but the volume was loud enough that she could hear Auntie Nat anyways.

The next thirty minutes seemed to go by at a snail’s pace, the waiting only made bearable by the soothing children’s music Maria could hear through the phone. She’d been worried the other woman would want to keep talking to her as she drove, but instead she’d put some music on the car’s radio and hadn’t said anything else to her since.

Which was good, because talking on the phone while driving was really unsafe, and the _last_ thing Maria wanted was for Auntie Nat to get into an accident because of her.

Eventually the music stopped and Maria tensed as she waited for Nat to speak again. It terrified her to think that the woman was just outside her apartment, but also made her want to cry with joy and relief.

“Okay Maria, honey, I’m outside your building. Can you tell me your apartment number?”

Maria hesitated. This was _definitely_ something she wasn’t supposed to do. Even the Kiddie Cab drivers didn’t know her inside door number. What if she told Aunt Nat and then she came in and hurt her? Or told others the number and then _they_ came in and hurt her? She whimpered as she thought about the bad men that had been trying to get into her apartment earlier.

“Ria, sweetheart. Everything’s going to be fine. I’m your secret keeper, you can trust me with this information. I promise you no one else is going to find out where you live.”

Maria had forgotten about Auntie Nat being her secret keeper, but now that the woman had brought it up, she felt a little less scared to tell her the number.

“Two ten,” she whispered, clenching her eyes shut as she prayed she wasn’t making a huge mistake. She really liked her current apartment and didn’t want to have to move again if she was wrong about this.

“Second floor, got it. Am I going to need my lock picking kit, or will you be able to come open the door for me?”

Maria shook her head quickly, even though the other woman couldn’t see her. There was no way she was leaving her closet, not until she knew she was safe.

“I’ll take your non-answer as a no. But that’s fine, I could use the practice. Just please warn me now if you have any booby traps in place. I’m not going to be much help to you if I get shot in the stomach as soon as I open the door.”

Once again Maria shook her head, but didn’t say anything out loud. She didn’t like guns, and knew her adult self would never leave any out in the open like that.

“Alright, I’m trusting you with my life here. I'm already at your door and I've got one lock undone, but I’m going to need both hands to do the other three. I’m going to put my phone away now, but I promise you it’s only me outside your door and no one else. You’re safe, Ria. You’re safe, so please, _please_ don’t shoot me.”

Maria frowned as the phone went dead, unsure why Auntie Nat was so concerned about being shot. She knew Agent Romanoff was one of the best secret agents at the place that they worked, so it seemed silly to be afraid of something that definitely wasn’t going to happen. As far as she could remember, she’d never shot anyone that she’d worked with, _ever_. Not even when her adult self really kind of wanted to.

Dropping the phone onto the floor now, Maria pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged her arms around her legs. She hadn’t said where inside her apartment she was hiding, but she didn’t think it would take long for a super secret agent to find her. An involuntary shudder ran through her body at the thought, and she bit into her knee to keep from whimpering.

A few more minutes ticked slowly by before Maria heard the unmistakable sound of her front door opening. Even though she knew in her head it was only Auntie Nat, her body tensed up and she curled further around her legs, pressing her face into her knees so forcefully that she began to see white spots floating behind her eyelids.

“Maria? Sweetie? It’s only me, just like I promised,” Aunt Nat’s voice spoke up from the other side of the apartment. “I know you’re upset and afraid, and that’s why you called me, but I’m here now, so please come on out of your hiding spot. Your Auntie Nat’s here and she wants to give you a _great big hug_ , but she doesn’t want to go through all of your things looking for you.”

Maria didn’t want someone going through her things either, not even her Aunt Nat, and so she carefully unfolded herself and slowly got to her feet. Walking through her closet in the dark was a lot harder than crawling through it, but she did eventually manage to get to the door without tripping or stepping on anything sharp.

She was still in her pajamas from earlier, so her feet were currently bare. She really missed her duck slippers even more now, but hadn’t had the heart to find a new pair to replace her old ones just yet.

Stepping first into her bedroom, and then out into the hallway, Maria honestly wasn’t sure what to expect when she finally saw the woman she hadn’t seen since that sleepover weekend. Well, she _had_ technically seen her, but only as her adult self while at work, so that didn’t really count as far as she was concerned.

“Ria?” Nat’s voice rang out again, louder this time, as Maria edged her way down the hallway and towards her main living room. Once she was at the end of the hall she took a deep breath and slowly poked her head around the corner.

“Maria! Sweetheart, come here. Come here and give your Auntie Nat a hug!”

Maria was briefly startled at the exclamation, but when Nat got down onto her knees and opened her arms out to her, she lost all her remaining hesitation and ran the last few feet into the waiting woman’s embrace.

“Oh, honey, I’m so glad you’re okay. I was so worried when I got your call,” Nat soothed, pulling Maria down to her knees as well so they could hug on more equal terms. It felt a little strange kneeling in her living room like this, but then, often times things seemed less scary when she was closer to the ground. Maybe Auntie Nat knew this as well since she was also Little?

“Bad men tried to get in,” Maria explained, her face buried against the other woman’s neck as she hung on for dear life. It was silly to be so comforted by something as simple as a hug, but after the last hour or so, she wanted nothing more than to never ever have to let go.

Auntie Nat had actually come to help her. She hadn’t laughed at her or hung up the phone, but had driven all the way out at night just because Maria had been scared. She didn’t know how to process everything she was feeling in that moment, except that she kind of wanted to cry.

“Oh, baby girl, I’m so sorry. That must have been so scary for you, huh? But I don’t want you to worry, okay? I saw the marks on the door when I was coming in, and whoever it was is a real stupid head. They would never have been able to get past your door locks with how they were trying to break them.”

Maria didn’t actually feel reassured by this, because in her experience, people who were stupid were also usually _mean_. And if Auntie Nat had managed to get in past the door locks, then maybe next time the bad men would bring someone as smart as her with them. She couldn’t hold back now and started to cry at the thought, tightening her arms around Nat’s neck.

“Okay, okay, it’s alright. Shhh, Maria, it’s alright. I promise no one’s going to get in here and hurt you. Your Auntie Nat may be small, but she’s also a really good fighter. No one’s going to get inside, but if they do, I’ll protect you. Do you at least trust me when I say that I’ll keep you safe?”

It was stupid to cry when Auntie Nat was being so nice to her, and promising her these things, but Maria couldn’t help herself. She nodded her head in response to the question, but continued to sob as the terror and the exhaustion of the past hour finally caught up with her.

“Okay then. Come on sweet girl, let's go sit on the couch for a bit while you calm down.”

Maria sniffled but didn’t protest when Nat began to untangle her arms from around her neck and then helped the both of them to stand. She kept a tight grip to the other woman’s hand though as they walked the few feet across the room and to her sofa.

“I made a mess,” Maria whimpered suddenly, pointing at an overturned plastic cup that was still dripping grape juice onto her otherwise white couch cushions. She’d been having a snack in the living room when the bad men had come, and in her fright she must have dropped her drink while trying to get onto the floor and under the table.

_Stupid Maria. Stupid, stupid, stupid._

She knew she wasn’t supposed to bring food or drinks out of the kitchen, but she hadn’t had an accident like this since the time she’d dropped her cereal and ruined her favorite slippers. “I’m in so much trouble,” she whined, letting go of Nat’s hand so she could press both of her palms over her face. It was silly _baby_ thinking, but if she couldn’t see the mess then maybe it would somehow go away.

“What? Maria, you’re not in trouble. It was an accident, sweetheart. Everyone has accidents and spills things, sometimes. Why would you think you’re in trouble? This is _your_ house and _your_ things, who’s going to get mad at you for making a little mess?”

Maria shook her head, feeling her tears starting up once again at the kindness in her Aunt’s voice. Before she could get too worked up though, there were gentle hands on her wrists, pulling her hands away from her face and back down to her sides. She tried keeping her eyes shut, but the tears were making her eyeballs itchy and she had to blink to try and scratch them and knock the tears away.

Auntie Nat was watching her patiently, her face a mixture of confusion and sadness. “It’s _you_ you’re worried about, isn't it? Do you get mad at yourself a lot? When you’re a grown up, I mean. Do you get mad at the things you did when you were Little?” she asked as she reached out and wiped at the tears on Maria’s cheeks with her thumbs.

Maria nodded her head since there was no point in lying. Auntie Nat was a super secret spy agent and would probably know if she were lying anyway. “I’m bad sometimes,” she explained quietly, lowering her head now to stare at her bare feet. “I’m not s’posed to eat in here. I’m bad because I breaked the rules.”

“It’s ‘broke’, honey, not ‘breaked’, and you aren’t _bad_ because of it. You made a mistake and had a little accident, but that doesn’t make you bad, Maria. That makes you _six_ ,” Nat explained, her hands still on Maria’s face as she wiped up the last of her tears. “I know you don’t know very many Littles, but I do, and let me tell you, six year olds spill things _all_ the time.”

“Really?” Maria asked, fidgeting a little as she took in this new information. She didn’t _want_ to be a bad girl, so really wanted to believe what her Auntie Nat was saying.

“Really. I wouldn’t lie to you, sweetie. Not about something as important as this,” Nat told her, giving her a reassuring smile a moment before pulling her back into a hug.

Maria clung to the other woman tightly, enjoying the soothing swaying motion Nat was making them do. It felt really nice to be able to have a hug even when she wasn’t currently scared or crying. After a few moments though she felt Nat start to pull away and she reluctantly let go, her arms falling once again to her sides.

She watched now as Nat moved to the couch and inspected the spill. “Grape juice, huh? Well don’t you worry, I know a few tricks to take care of this. In the meantime, why don’t you sit here on the other side of the couch and maybe put something fun on TV? I’m going to go find some cleaning supplies and then I’ll be right back, alright?”

Maria really didn’t want Aunt Nat to go, even if it was just into another room, but she nodded her head obediently and climbed onto the couch, as far away from the spill as she could get.

“That’s a good girl. I’ll be back shortly.” Nat smiled at her as she picked up the spilled cup and then placed a kiss to the top of her head before heading in the direction of the kitchen.

Maria was frozen in her spot again, but for a completely different reason than before. Auntie Nat had called her a good girl and then _kissed_ her. No one had ever kissed her before, not even her real daddy when she was growing up. It was really stupid to cry again over something as silly as a kiss to the top of her head, but today just felt like a day _full_ of stupid, and Maria was honestly too tired to try and keep it in again.

By the time Nat had returned, she’d managed to soak most of the front of her shirt with her tears, her face no doubt red and puffy and _stupid_ looking. She hated this. She hated being so emotional. No one liked a crybaby, and eventually Auntie Nat would get tired of her and leave her alone again. She didn’t want to be alone anymore, not after feeling how nice it was to have someone hug her and kiss her when she was Little.

“Maria? Honey, what is it?” Nat asked, her voice rising with alarm as she no doubt noticed Maria’s tears. Putting the cleaning products on the coffee table, she quickly knelt down on the floor in front of Maria and took both of the girl’s hands in her own. “Sweetie, please talk to me. Why are you crying? Did you get scared again because I left the room?”

Maria shook her head, lifting her shoulder a little so she could rub her face on her shirt to try and soak up a few more tears, and maybe a little bit of snot.

“Hey, come on now, you’re getting your pretty shirt all wet,” Auntie Nat admonished lightly, releasing Maria’s hands to get the roll of paper towels she had brought into the room. Ripping a section off the roll, she leant forward and gently began to wipe at Maria’s nose with one side of the paper towel, and then her cheeks with the other side.

It felt scratchy and unpleasant, but Maria held still as her Aunt cleaned her up. She was sure her face would be even _more_ red now, but at least it was dry and no longer sticky with runny boogers.

“There we go, all clean again. Your face is much too pretty to be covered in all that yuckiness,” Auntie Nat told her as she crumpled up the towel and tossed it onto the coffee table behind her. She still looked concerned though, and Maria shrank in on herself a little at the thought of having to now explain her distress.

It’s not that she didn’t want to, or didn’t trust her Auntie to keep everything she said a secret. It was that she didn’t actually know _how_ to express what she was feeling with words. Maybe her adult self would know better how to talk about this when she woke up again, but right now she just felt stupid and useless and ugly, even if Auntie Nat _did_ just say she had a pretty face.

“Alright, I understand it can be difficult sometimes to talk about our feelings, so I’m going to let it go for now. But if at any time you change your mind and _do_ want to tell me what’s making you so upset, I’ll definitely be happy to listen, and I will try my best to help make it better for you,” Nat told her after a few moments of stretched silence between them.

Maria just nodded her head in understanding, grateful that she didn’t have to talk about it just yet. Or maybe ever. It would depend on what her adult self wanted to do, which was a relief in a way since she didn’t like making big decisions when she was Little.

Thankfully, the discomfort of the last few minutes didn’t last very long. Once Auntie Nat had finished cleaning the cushion and flipping it over, she had climbed up onto the couch next to Maria and pulled the girl into a comforting side hug. Then together they watched a few episodes of DuckTales on Netflix.

Maria had already seen every episode of the cartoon at least a dozen times, but she didn’t mind watching them again because it seemed like Aunt Nat hadn’t seen any of them before. Which made her kind of sad, because it was her favorite show and she’d thought she remembered the other woman enjoying ducks as much as she did.

After an hour of simply cuddling side by side on the couch, enjoying the antics of Scrooge McDuck and his nephews, Maria felt herself beginning to grow sleepy. She tried stifling her yawns, not wanting the evening to be over just yet. Not after finally calming down enough that she could truly enjoy spending time with her Aunt. She didn’t know if an evening like this would ever happen again, and was more than a little reluctant to see it end so quickly.

Since she was a super secret awesome spy, Auntie Nat probably noticed her tiredness right away, but only after Maria’s third aborted yawn did she finally decide to say something about it. “You getting sleepy, baby girl?” Nat asked, shifting a little on the couch so she could bring a hand up and brush some of Maria’s bangs from her tired face.

Maria whined in response, shaking her head in an adamant ‘no’. Her answer was contradicted, however, by the yawn that escaped halfway through, causing Maria to cross her arms and whimper grumpily as Nat laughed adoringly at her.

“You’re absolutely adorable when you pout,” Nat told her playfully, leaning in and placing a kiss to her forehead.

“Am not,” Maria countered as she attempted to pout even harder, but the unexpected kiss was making it difficult to do anything but smile contentedly as she snuggled further into her Aunt’s side. Moments later she yawned again, and began banging her heels against the side of the couch as she whined unhappily.

“Aww, I’m thinking _someone_ gets a little cranky when they’re tired, huh?” Auntie Nat asked, poking Maria teasingly in the side at the word ‘someone’.

Maria giggled at the ticklish poke and attempted now to squirm away, but her Aunt was too quick for her and managed to wrap both arms around her body and pull her back. “No! No!” Maria squealed playfully as Nat began to poke and tickle her sides even more. She kicked her legs out and squirmed as she laughed, which only resulted in her being pulled into the other woman’s lap as she was suddenly engulfed in an extra tight bear hug.

Normally Maria would have hated being held so tightly, especially from behind and with her arms trapped at her sides, but she didn’t feel threatened by the gesture. Not from her Aunt Nat, whom she was convinced now would never hurt her. It did have the most likely desired effect on her though, as she stopped moving and just sat there straddling Nat’s knees while the two of them began to catch their breath after all their laughing and moving.

“There we go, no more pouty faces. Even if they _were_ adorable,” Nat teased, placing a kiss to the back of Maria’s head before releasing her from the embrace. “But it _is_ getting late, so up you go. Bedtime.”

Maria wanted to protest again, but she knew it would be a useless battle since she _was_ really tired and would probably end up falling asleep soon anyway, whether she was laying in her bed or not. And she really didn’t want to fall asleep on the couch, even if it would most likely be in her Auntie Nat’s arms.

Reluctantly, Maria slid off of her Aunt’s lap and onto the floor, just in time for another full body yawn. It was startling how she had gone from being almost wide awake during the tickle fight, to now feeling like she would fall asleep while still standing on her feet. Whimpering at her body’s reaction, she quickly reached out and took ahold of Nat’s hand, hoping the contact would help keep her awake long enough to get into her bed.

“Alright my drowsy little bed bug, let’s get you to your room and into bed. Can you show me which room you sleep in?” Nat asked, already on her feet and gently leading the two towards the hallway. Once in the hall, Maria pointed out the closed door on the far left, and together they walked hand in hand towards it.

“This is your room?” Auntie Nat asked, and Maria nodded her head sleepily. It should have felt scary or uncomfortable, the idea of someone else entering her bedroom. Even _more_ so than someone coming into her apartment altogether, but Maria didn’t feel upset by the thought, and so simply reached out and turned the knob, pushing the door open so the two could walk inside.

Only, once they were in the doorway, Nat stopped moving forward and tugged a little on Maria’s hand, causing her to stop as well. “No, honey, I meant your _Little_ bedroom, not your adult one,” the woman corrected, though her words didn’t quite compute in Maria’s sleep-addled brain, and she just stared blankly across at her.

“Ria, where do you sleep when you’re Little?” Nat clarified, turning now to face her.

Maria frowned in confusion at the question and pointed at her bed in the corner, opposite to where they were standing. Nat seemed taken aback by her answer, and Maria frowned even harder, not sure what she had done to get a reaction like that.

“Wait, are you saying you only have _one_ bedroom?” Nat asked now, and Maria nodded her head quickly in response. She remembered Auntie Nat having a separate bedroom for her and her siblings, but surely that had been because they needed the extra room for all of their toys and their special beds. That wasn’t something that _all_ Littles did, right?

“But where do you keep all of your Little things? All of your toys and your clothes?” Nat pressed, her voice almost sounding strained, like she was suddenly in pain.

Maria raised her arm to point, but then thought better of it and tugged on her Aunt’s hand, leading her further into the bedroom and over to her dresser. Letting go of her hand, she got down onto her knees and pulled open the bottom drawer, revealing her neatly folded pile of pajamas on one side and her small assortment of books and toys on the other. She couldn’t help but smile as she briefly looked over her things, but when she glanced up at her Aunt the smile quickly vanished.

Auntie Nat was staring down at her like she was about to cry.

Before Maria could rise to her feet in alarm, Nat slowly lowered herself to the floor next to her and placed both hands on her shoulders. “Maria, please tell me that this isn’t everything you own, because I _swear to God_ I’m going to lose my shit if all the Little things you have fit in a single dresser drawer.”

Maria didn’t know how to respond to that, since she didn’t want to make her Aunt unhappy, but she also didn’t want to lie. “I had ducky slippers too, but I threwed them out ‘cause they gots yucky,” she ended up responding, since it was technically the truth, but it was also kind of what her Aunt wanted to hear. She _did_ have more things at one point, so that was good, right?

Apparently not, because as soon as the words were out of her mouth her Aunt Nat began crying, and the next thing Maria knew she was being pulled into yet another hug, only this time it felt like _she_ was meant to be the one doing the comforting and not the other way around. She wasn’t sure she knew how to do that though, and so tentatively began to pat her Aunt on the back as the woman cried and shook against her chest.

“It’s okay, Auntie Nat. I’m sorry. Please don’t cry,” Maria told her softly, reassuringly. She thought maybe she should go get a paper towel so she could clean Nat’s face up the way she’d cleaned her own up, but that would mean leaving the room and she didn’t think the other woman was ready to let go of her just yet.

Unlike her own tears, Auntie Nat’s didn’t seem to last very long, and in less than a minute she was pulling away from the hug and wiping her face on her own sleeve. Maria tutted at this, which actually got the other woman to laugh, and caused Maria to start laughing as well. Which was a good thing, since laughing was a _lot_ better than crying, and Maria didn’t want to see her Auntie Nat crying like that ever again. _Especially_ not because of her.

“Oh geeze, Maria. I’m so sorry. I hope I didn’t scare you just now,” Nat offered as her laughter slowly died down and she began to wipe the few remaining tears from her cheeks with her fingers. “Your answer just took me by surprise, is all. I promise, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

Maria sat back on her heels and shrugged her shoulders. She may not have done anything _wrong_ , but she must have done _something_ to make her cry like that. Unless, maybe… “You needs a nap too?” she asked, remembering suddenly that Nat wasn’t _really_ an Aunt, and so might actually just be tired and cranky like her.

Even though a nap was different then bedtime, Maria already knew that one was definitely going to lead to the other tonight, since it was already super dark outside. And if Auntie Nat stayed and took a nap with her, then she’d have to stay for bedtime as well since it would be _waaaay_ too late to drive home at that point. Maria kind of like the idea of getting a nap _and_ a bedtime with her Aunt, and so looked pleadingly at her and then at her bed.

Nat seemed a little uncertain at first, but then smiled and nodded her head as she began pulling the two of them back up to their feet. “I think you’re right about the nap. I haven’t had one today and crying always makes me super sleepy. Are you okay sharing your bed with me like we do in your office? Or would you rather me sleep on the couch in the other room?”

“Bed,” Maria answered without any hesitation, not at all ready to be separated just yet. A yawn suddenly overtook her and she rubbed at her face with her arm as she swayed a little on her feet. “Sleepy now,” she insisted, unsure if she even had the energy to change into a clean pair of pajamas before crawling into bed.

Auntie Nat seemed to realize this and gently guided her to lift her arms so she could pull her snotty and gross shirt up and over her head. “I’m just taking the one that’s on top. So don’t worry, I’m not going through your things,” Nat explained as she reached into the drawer and pulled out a yellow shirt with cartoon bumblebees on it.

Maria kind of thought the shirt didn’t go with the green and purple pajama pants she was already wearing, but decided she was too tired to say anything about it. Once the shirt was on over her head and her arms pulled through the holes, she quickly made her way towards her bed without even waiting to see if her Aunt was following behind.

Climbing up and under the covers, Maria wriggled her way to the far side of the bed, closer to the wall. It wasn’t where she usually slept, but she vaguely recalled her Auntie Nat having a ‘thing’ about being on the outside of the bed. Or at least the side that was closest to the door.

Nat smiled at the obvious gesture and climbed in next to her, fussing with the blankets for a few moments before settling in against the pillows so they were facing each other.

They laid like that in silence for a few moments, and Maria wondered if maybe she should say something to her? Maybe thank her again for coming to help her, and for staying with her now that she was here? But every time she opened her mouth, a yawn would come out instead, and she’d quickly forget the words she’d wanted to say.

It looked like Nat wanted to say something to her as well, but seemed to be having just as much trouble getting the words out as she herself was. But that was okay, because Maria suddenly thought of a much better way to say what she was feeling, without having to actually _say_ what she was feeling.

Scooting a little across the mattress and back towards the center, Maria stopped only when she was close enough to rest her head on the same pillow as her Aunt. Without waiting for the other woman to react, she pushed her upper body off the mattress and leant over, placing a quick kiss to her forehead before dropping back down to the bed to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, I lied again about writing a chapter from Natasha's POV. It just wasn't working out. Maybe one day I'll be able to tap into her head, but for now, this is still Maria's POV. 
> 
> This chapter is also really heavy on the dialogue, and is basically a gigantic information dump for a lot of things I've been wanting to reveal about Maria and her past. With all of this out in the open now, things will start to progress much faster in terms of her and Natasha, as well as other characters finding out about her being Little.
> 
> Thank you once again to everyone who's reading and commenting and leaving kudos on these fics! This last chapter saw such an amazing response from you guys, so I really hope this followup doesn't disappoint!

When Maria woke up, the first thing she noticed was that her pillow was incredibly warm. Incredibly warm, and sort of lumpy. Incredibly warm, sort of lumpy, and smelled really, really good. So good in fact, that she couldn’t help wrapping her arms around it and burying her face into the fabric. After a few moments of enjoying the scent, Maria began to notice something else about her pillow - it was _breathing_.

“Morning utochka. I take it you slept well?”

Maria whined in response to the question, but didn’t immediately let go of her ‘pillow’. She was much too comfortable, and Natasha’s chest smelled way too enticing to pull away just yet. It was actually rather alarming how those thoughts didn’t immediately freak her out, and Maria whimpered in confusion as she turned her face to look up at the woman she’d just been nuzzling.

Natasha smiled down at her with one hand raised and hovering a few inches over her head. When Maria didn’t panic or pull away, Natasha gently lowered her hand and began smoothing her fingers through her hair. “You have no idea what's going on, or why you’re laying on me, do you?” she asked, with just a hint of amusement in her voice.

Shaking her head as best she could without lifting it off of the other woman, Maria frowned a little at the question. Sure Natasha’s body smelled nice, and her chest _was_ perfectly shaped to act as a standin pillow, but that didn’t explain _why_ she felt the overwhelming need to actually utilize it as such. Not to mention she had just been rubbing her face on her co-worker’s breasts, and it hadn’t felt in any way inappropriate, or even sexual for that matter.

“Am I the first Little you’ve ever woken up next to after a drop?” Natasha asked, though Maria could tell from the woman’s expression that she obviously already knew the answer.

Still, Maria nodded her head anyway, closing her eyes as Natasha’s fingers brushed over her forehead, pulling some of her bangs to the side and behind her exposed ear. As innocent as the touch was, it felt _amazing_ , and Maria whimpered a little when Natasha finally pulled her hand away and went back to simply playing with her hair.

Natasha didn’t speak again for at least a minute, until finally Maria opened her eyes again and looked imploringly at her. “I’m sorry, I’m just- This is affecting me too, so bare with me, yeah?” Natasha told her gently, a contented expression settling over her face as she continued to card her fingers through Maria’s hair.

Maria wasn’t at all satisfied with that answer, but didn’t have it in herself to argue or push for a better explanation of what was going on. Because there was definitely something going on between them, and while it didn’t feel in the least bit sexual, it did feel incredibly intimate. Even though the rational part of her brain knew she should put a stop to all of this, an unfamiliar latent side was successfully working to convince her to just drop it for now and enjoy the moment.

And so she did.

Curling her knees up towards her chest, Maria tucked herself as close to Natasha’s body as she could get without actually climbing on top of her. “You smell really nice,” she insisted, as she turned her face and began casually nuzzling the woman’s chest again.

Natasha laughed happily at Maria’s comment and reprised action, but reached down and began to tug her away from her breasts just the same. “Come here, you. Let me show you how to properly ‘aftercuddle’.”

Maria whined almost petulantly as Natasha began to reposition her, turning and straightening her body out so they were lying parallel to each other now, instead of perpendicular. It meant she couldn’t keep using Natasha’s chest as a pillow, and now had to make do with her shoulder. It wasn’t as comfortable, obviously, but the intoxicating scent was actually much stronger now, and within seconds Maria was pressing her nose against Natasha’s neck and _inhaling_.

“Oh fuck, you smell so gooood,” Maria groaned, her mind growing fuzzy and tingly for a few moments before it cleared again. “Am I high? Did you drug me? I’ve never been high before, but I think I might be high right now,” she rambled, the words coming out before she could really process what she was saying. “It feels like I’m on drugs. Why am I on drugs? Why can’t I stop talking?” Maria groaned again, biting her lip now to try and keep from embarrassing herself further.

Natasha laughed once more, her arms coming around and hugging Maria tightly against her. “No, you’re not on drugs. But yes, you _are_ high. Just not a pharmaceutical high,” the woman clarified, her voice laced with both amusement and adoration. In any other situation it would have pissed Maria off to be spoken to like that, but right now she just nodded her head dumbly and waited for further explanation.

“You’ve never done this before, so the pheromones are affecting you more strongly than they typically would someone our age. It’ll level out in a few minutes, once the initial rush is over. Just enjoy it, okay? It’ll never be this intense again,” Natasha added, finishing her statement with a kiss to the top of Maria’s head.

Maria grumbled half heartedly at the affection, even though she kind of secretly enjoyed the kiss. She figured the almost giddy feeling in her stomach had to be a result of the high she was experiencing, and so decided not to analyse it any further. Opting instead to follow Natasha’s suggestion, she tucked her face into the space where the woman’s neck and shoulder met and closed her eyes, content for the moment to simply ride it out.

True to Natasha’s words, the intoxicated feeling eventually began to dissipate, and Maria’s other senses gradually began to come back online. Or it wasn’t so much that they hadn’t been operating until now, but they’d felt muted or less important. Like the fact that she was currently wrapped around Natasha’s body in the way one would hug a body pillow hadn’t registered to her before, but now that her sense of touch was waking back up, all Maria could think about was how inappropriate their intertwined positions were.  

Only, her sudden awareness of the fact that she should move, didn’t seem to translate into her body actually doing anything about it. She was comfortable and relaxed, something she hadn’t felt in years if she were truly being honest with herself. Besides, it didn’t seem like Natasha minded very much that she was the one playing the part of the octopus this time around.

“How are you feeling? I’ve already leveled out, so I’m pretty sure you have too,” Natasha asked, the arm that was wrapped around Maria’s back loosening a little, as if to let her know she could pull away now if she wanted to.

Maria didn’t really want to, but she knew she couldn’t have this conversation with her face still mashed against Natasha’s skin. Shifting her body as minutely as she could, she pulled her head back until it was now resting on the pillow next to Natasha’s own.

It actually felt even _more_ intimate now, since there were only a few inches between their faces, and Maria found herself resisting the knee jerk reaction to move further back across the bed. It would mean having to let go of Natasha completely though, and Maria didn’t want to do that just yet. She didn’t feel high anymore, but the contact was still comforting in a way she would never have expected it to be.

“I’m alright. I don’t feel drugged anymore, at least,” Maria eventually answered, doing her best to keep her eyes looking anywhere but directly at Natasha’s. As a result, she eventually noticed the damp spots she’d left on the other woman’s clothes, most likely from drooling on her in the night. “Sorry about your shirt,” she offered, wincing just a slight bit.

Natasha peered down at her chest, furrowing her brows for a moment until she noticed the wet spots, at which point she rolled her eyes and gave Maria a _look_. “Unless you’re secretly radioactive, I hardly think you’ve ruined it,” she teased, turning her body so she was now laying on her side in a perfect mirror image of Maria. “So, you want me to explain what all of that was? Or…?”

It was Maria’s turn to roll her eyes now as she nodded her head insistently. “Uh, yes please. Just… try to keep the amusement to a minimum? I know I’m an unsocialized freak, I don’t need to be reminded about it by you laughing at me some- OW! What the _fuck_ Natasha?!” Maria jerked back, her hands flying to her side where Natasha had just pinched her skin roughly.

“That’s for calling yourself a freak,” Natasha explained, her expression turning serious all of a sudden. Serious enough that Maria held back her instinct to immediately become defensive. “We all have issues, and calling ourselves names only makes it harder to eventually get past them.”

Maria wanted to ask if Natasha knew this from experience, but figured if the woman had wanted to share that information, then she would have done so already. Instead she slowly inched her way back across the bed so she was once again sharing a pillow with her. “I’m sorry. I’ll try not to do it again,” she told her genuinely.

Natasha studied her face for a few seconds, possibly looking to see if she was simply trying to appease her. Whatever she ended up seeing in her expression seemed to satisfy her, and she nodded her head and cleared her throat. “Right, good. Okay, answers now. And then maybe some more cuddling. You’re a really good cuddler, Maria. Especially since that was your ‘maiden voyage’, so to speak.”

“Okay, you’ve lost me already,” Maria interrupted, her face heating up subconsciously at the mention of more cuddling. She could feel her heart rate start to pick up as well, and whimpered in confusion at her body’s unwitting response.

Natasha must have noticed her budding distress and reached across the bed, placing one hand on top of Maria’s hip, while the other burrowed between her torso and the mattress. The end result was that she was able to pull their bodies closer, so their legs were once again touching. On instinct, they both interlocked their legs together, their bare ankles brushing against each others as they adjusted positions until they were both comfortable.

It was both terrifying and strange how her body seemed to know exactly what to do without her mind explicitly being involved, but it was also somewhat comforting as well. Maria had a tendency to drastically overthink things, and so whatever this was that was happening, it actually allowed her to let go in a way she’d never experienced before.

“Much better,” Natasha announced once they’d stopped fidgeting and found a comfortable position. “Okay, so this,” she paused, indicating with her hands their entangled legs as well as the wet spots on her shirt, “is normal for Littles, especially after a drop. Because you’d isolated yourself, you’d never had a chance to experience it until now.”

Maria was more than a little skeptical of Natasha’s answer. Even though it was true that she’d never before been around other Littles in this way, she _had_ passed high school biology and health class, and didn’t remember learning anything like this in school. “I guess they left out the sections devoted to ‘the insatiable need to touch and drool on one another’ in my 9th grade textbooks,” she responded, trying for humor but wincing when she realized her comment sounded more sexual than she'd intended.

Natasha shrugged her shoulders at that. “I’m not too familiar with your system of schooling, but I believe 9th grade is usually _before_ a Little hits second puberty, yes? Perhaps this information was deemed by your teachers to be inappropriate for prepubescent audiences? Did you not take biology classes later on, when you were 16 or 17?”

Maria hadn’t, actually. Once she’d turned 16 and had emancipated herself from her father, she’d opted to join a separate graduation track from the majority of her classmates. Her focus had been to get ready for the workforce, and not to go off to college like everyone else. This meant certain advanced courses in fields like science and english had been skipped over in favor of ones in technology and similar hands on disciplines.

She’d actually spent most of her junior and senior year in the school’s workshop building furniture, or cleaning and repairing carburetors. If it hadn’t been for _him_ and everything that eventually went down as a result, she’d have probably ended up as a mechanic in a shitty garage somewhere in Chicago. So as fucked up as that entire period of her life had been because of _him_ , it had at least motivated her to get the hell out of dodge and to join the army as soon as she legally could.

“Hey, hey, what were you thinking about just now?” Natasha suddenly pressed, reaching across and placing her hand on Maria’s shoulder to try and get her attention. “You went away for a second.”

Maria shook her head quickly, blinking a few times to try and flush the thoughts of _him_ from her mind. She hadn’t wanted Natasha to know about that, and so was annoyed with herself for giving so much away in just her expression and body language. “Nothing, nothing. Just, high school wasn’t everything the movies make it out to be, is all,” she covered.

Natasha studied her face for a few moments, before slowly breaking out into a sarcastic looking smile. “You’re saying you never spent a Saturday in detention, making unlikely friends and running amok in the hallways? Or, you know, sang while playing basketball?”

Maria snorted at that and rolled her eyes, laughing. “Are those the only two high school movies you know?”

Natasha shrugged, pulling her hand back from Maria's shoulder and tucking her arm against her chest. “Maybe. And you didn’t answer my question.”

“Ugh, no. Definitely not. I didn’t play sports, and I never got detention. Was too busy studying or working on projects to break the rules.” It was true, but only partially so. Maria had learned not to get in trouble _long_ before she’d entered high school. The terrifying thought of bringing her father a bad report card or detention slip to sign had been more than enough to keep her in line during the school day.

“Sounds boring if you ask me. Though I suppose it paid off in the end, with you being the youngest Deputy Director SHIELD has ever had. I highly doubt Fury would have promoted you if you’d had a history of skipping class, or setting things on fire in the bathrooms during lunch,” Natasha responded back, a smirk now spreading across her face, as if arson was somehow funny to her.

Maria knew a little about the Black Widow’s past deeds where fire was concerned, so the humor in Natasha's eyes didn't make any sense. Unless of course the amusement was based on someone else’s past history? Maria was fairly certain there were no classic teen movies that involved fire starting, so it would have to be someone Natasha knew personally. “Wait, did Clint set things on fire at his school?”

The laughter that erupted from Natasha in response was both amusing and a little unsettling, to say the least. “Oh god no, Clint hates fire. Bobbi’s the firebug in our little triad. Though it’s not so much the fire itself that she likes, as it is the sounds a Zippo lighter makes when you flick it open and closed. She’d had no idea back then that you could simply empty out the lighter fluid, so more than a few rolls of toilet paper ended up paying the price for that little oversight.”

“Huh. I'm kind of surprised she didn't get expelled for something like that,” Maria replied, more than a little shocked to find out it was Morse who actually was the troublemaker in school, and not Barton like she would have originally guessed. Then again, the past few weeks had seen them _both_ acting like equally unpleasant thorns in her sides, but she suspected that had more to do with them testing her fitness to be their girlfriend’s Handler, and not simply their personality quirks.

“They tried to kick her out twice I believe, but her mother fought them on it both times. The school had someone on staff who was supposed to be watching Bobbi, but they obviously weren't doing their job properly if she was repeatedly able to sneak away and set toilet stalls on fire. There might have been the threat of a discrimination lawsuit in there too, but I'm not sure. I only know the parts that Bobbi's shared with me, and she doesn't talk about it much,” Natasha explained.

“Still, she's lucky to have a mother that would go to bat for her like that,” Maria offered back with a slight shrug. She knew her own father would have gladly thrown her to the wolves if she’d ever gotten into any serious trouble at school. It was one of the reasons he’d so readily agreed to her emancipation when she’d presented the idea to him. He’d wanted her gone since the moment she was born. Getting rid of her two years sooner than he’d been expecting had simply been a bonus for him.

“No, not really,” Natasha responded, a frown suddenly replacing her amused expression from earlier. “Clint told me once that the only reason her mother took her out of the institution was because of some new government program that offered to pay her a huge amount of money every month to go back to caring for her daughter herself. I think she was worried she’d lose custody of Bobbi if she got kicked out of school, which meant the money would stop coming in.”

“Okay, wow, I take back what I said. That's incredibly fucked up.” Maria frowned as well, a little taken aback at this new information. She honestly didn’t know all that much about Agent Morse’s history, other than she was institutionalized when she was a kid for supposedly being out of control and “a danger to herself and others”.

Maria had always assumed that Bobbi’s mother hadn’t wanted to give her daughter up in the first place, and that she had been taken away by the state against her will. Apparently that wasn’t the case. Not if she was so easily able to get her daughter back once the promise of a paycheck was on the table. As fucked up as Maria’s own childhood was, at least her father hadn’t kept her around simply because someone else was paying him to. He may have hated _her_ , but he'd absolutely loved her mother and had felt morally obligated to raise her until she was old enough to leave.

“Incredibly fucked up is putting it mildly. Though uh, we should probably go back to talking about you now. Bobbi's story is _Bobbi’s_ story, so I'm pretty sure I overstepped my bounds telling you all of that,” Natasha reprimanded herself, bringing a hand up to her face so she could begin rubbing at her nose in agitation. “It’s totally your fault though. Your pheromones from earlier must still be effecting my inhibitions. Or as Clint would say, that shit was totally _dank_.”

“Okay, now you’ve lost me again.” Maria narrowed her eyes a little, trying her best not to be offended by the unfamiliar term.

Natasha simply shook her head and laughed, moving her hand from her nose now to brush past her forehead and through her own hair. It hadn’t been falling into her eyes or anything, but the gesture was probably as comforting to her as it had been to Maria earlier. Truthfully, Maria kind of wanted to reach across and start playing with the other woman’s hair herself, but refrained from doing so. Just because _she_ was easy, didn’t mean Natasha would be as appreciative of the contact as she had been.

“Sorry, that's something Clint used to say when describing the first time I dropped for him. Similar to you, it was also my ‘maiden voyage’, so the effects I'd had on him were probably the same as the effects you’re having on me,” Natasha explained, shifting her legs a little so their ankle bones rubbed together briefly.

“You keep using that term, ‘maiden voyage’. What are you talking about?” Maria asked, her heart fluttering in her chest every time Natasha’s bare ankle brushed against her own.

“Yeah, Bobbi hates when I call it that, but I think it sounds way better than ‘second virginity’. That just makes it sound sexual when it totally isn’t,” Natasha explained, shrugging. She’d stopped playing with her hair now and had tucked her arms against her chest again.

Maria honestly thought _both_ terms sounded sexual, but refrained from saying anything. She didn’t want to interrupt and cause Natasha to go off track again. She’d had to pee ever since waking up, and the longer the conversation went on, the worse the urgency became. She wasn’t getting up though, not until she’d learned everything she didn’t currently know about her biology.

“Okay, so you know how Littles go through two puberties? The first one for our physical bodies, and the second one for our mental states? Well, it stands then that we would also have two ‘first times’. The first time we have sex and the first time we drop,” Natasha continued.

“Alright, but this wasn’t the first time I’ve ever dropped. I’ve been dropping since I was 16. Why did this one count as losing my second virginity, but not all those other times?” Maria asked, still not seeing the logic.

“For the same reason masturbation doesn’t count as losing your first virginity. You have to do it with another Little to truly experience the effects of the drop. Everything before that, solo dropping, or dropping around your parents or teachers, none of that means as much biologically speaking as doing it with someone you might end up in a relationship with.”

Maria opened her mouth to respond but then closed it again, not sure she liked where her immediate train of thought was going. She understood that Natasha wasn’t implying that the two of them would end up in a relationship, and was just speaking in generalities. Still, she couldn’t stop her face from heating up at the very thought, which was just.. No.

“Yeah, okay, but what about dropping for Bigs? Isn’t _that_ meant to be the penultimate experience? Or the reason we even do this age regression thing in the first place? So a Big will become attached to us, and want to be our Parent?” Maria quickly asked, needing to change the subject. Not that talking about Bigs was any better, but it at least drew the conversation away from the personal and back towards the impersonal. Or so she thought.

Natasha stared at her for a few moments, her expression shifting from one of confusion, to understanding, and then finally to sympathy. “Oh, Maria, no. That’s not- Why would you think our dropping had anything to do with Bigs? I mean, yes, Littles _do_ drop for Bigs, and it’s great and all, but that’s not why we do it in the first place. That’s more of a bonus if anything.”

Okay, no. No fucking way.

There was no way in _hell_ Maria was going to believe anything Natasha was telling her now. She may have been closeted about some things, but she knew enough about the way the world worked to know that one of the main reasons Littles dropped into a childlike state was so that Bigs would want to be their Mommy or Daddy and take care of them. That was just too fucking obvious to ever believably be untrue. Which now begged the question, why was Natasha lying to her?

“Maria, you look like I've just run over your puppy. Please, calm down. Whatever's going on in your head right now, whatever it is you're thinking, I can assure you I've been there too. When Clint explained all of this to me a few years ago, I also thought he was full of shit. And that maybe he was trying to con me, or that SHIELD had put him up to it to throw me off balance.”

“Yeah, well, that does sound a lot like something SHIELD would do. And it doesn't help make the case for why I should trust you about this. You're expecting me to forget everything I've ever been told, everything I've ever experienced first hand. Why the fuck should I do that? Why should I believe you and not everyone else?”

“Who is ‘everyone else’, Maria? Who told you that the main reason Littles drop are so that Bigs will love them?”

Maria once again opened her mouth to respond but then shut it quickly when the words became lodged in her throat. She couldn’t do this right now. She couldn’t have this conversation. Not with Natasha. Not after everything they’d just experienced together. All the good feelings from earlier were gone now, replaced instead with a growing sense of dread. She didn’t want to do this. She didn’t want to-

“Maria, Maria, look at me. Hey, come on, look at me.”

She shook her head adamantly, surprised to find that it was fairly hard to do so with how it was currently pressed against Natasha’s chest. When had she been moved? Why hadn’t she noticed that she was now practically laying on top of the other woman? Everything about this felt wrong, but Maria found she couldn’t order her body to actually move away. What the hell was going on? Why was she frozen like this?

“Maria, you’re on the verge of a massive panic drop. You need to try and focus on me. Focus on my breathing, my heartbeat. Focus on my smell, and my warmth. You don’t want to drop right now, not so soon after your last one. Trust me on this. Just take some deep breaths and listen to my voice. I’m here, I’m not going anywhere. You’re safe with me.”

“Not safe. Never safe,” Maria countered, her voice barely above a whisper. She eventually stopped trying to force her body to move and instead relaxed into the woman below her. Even though dropping right now would be easier in the short term, she understood Natasha’s warning about not doing it again so soon. She had dropped back to back when Natasha had found out about her secret, and it had fucked her up for _days_.

“Oh sweetie, maybe you weren’t safe before, but you are now. Whoever it was that hurt you- whoever taught you those things, they were wrong, okay? We don’t drop so Bigs will want to care for us, we drop because that’s how we’re genetically engineered to deal with stress. It’s our coping mechanism, Maria, it has nothing to do with them _,_ or what they want.”

Maria turned her head painstakingly slowly so that her face was pressed into Natasha’s shirt once again. Only this time the action had more to do with hiding herself than simply soaking up the other woman’s scent. “Then why? Why do they feel good when we drop for them? I know it has to feel good because Coulson always talks about how much he loves Caretaking you three.”

Natasha sighed, her hands coming up and resting lightly on Maria’s back. “I don’t know, I guess maybe for the same reasons it feels good to take care of puppies, or babies? Even though we’re not _really_ children when we drop, we are kind of helpless like that. Bigs evolved in the way that they did so us Littles had the option of having someone fill in as our Parents when we’re in our Little headspaces. It makes sense that they would get something out of it too, or else why would they even bother?”

Even though Natasha’s explanations made sense on the surface, Maria still felt there was something drastically important being overlooked. Her mind was just too sluggish right now to be able to put a finger on it.

“I know the current cultural narrative heavily implies that all Littles should want to find themselves a Big, but it also wasn’t that long ago that society viewed homosexuality as a sin, and believed that only men and women should be able to get married.” Natasha paused for a moment, as one of her hands began to gently rub circles along Maria's back.

“I feel like society might be headed towards another one of those grand revelation moments, where people wake up and realize that just because you’re a Little, it doesn’t mean that you _have_ to be involved with a Big. That it's okay to skip all of that, and just stick to the company of other Littles if that's what makes you happy,” Natasha finished, though her hand kept moving in patterns along Maria's spine.

As stupidly cliche as it was, it felt like Maria’s entire world had suddenly dropped out from beneath her, and she desperately clung to Natasha’s sides as her mind struggled to make sense of what the other woman was saying. She could accept the fact that she was ignorant about some things, but the concept of a Little eventually finding their one true Big was quite _literally_ a tale as old as time.

Fairy tales, songs, movies, books. Popular culture was absolutely saturated with the idea that all Littles should want to find a Big. Sometimes even to the detriment of a romantic and intimate relationship with another Little. It was the concept of having a soul mate, someone you would instantly click with, who was meant to be your lifelong guardian or partner. Maria’s mom had been that for her father, and it had absolutely destroyed him when she’d passed away from complications during childbirth.

Maria hadn’t wanted that for herself. She hadn’t wanted to end up like her father.

As soon as she’d hit puberty and had discovered that she was Little like him, she’d made a promise to herself that she’d never allow someone to take advantage of her like that. She’d never let a Big charm their way into her life; never let them dig their claws so deeply into her soul, that when something eventually went wrong, she’d be torn apart from the inside out.

Her grandmother had told her once that her son hadn’t always been a bad person. That the death of his Big had quite literally destroyed all the good parts of himself, leaving nothing behind but an empty shell of a man. A shell that would eventually be possessed by the devil. Maria had only ever known the monster that supposedly wore her father’s face, so her grandmother’s words had been of no consolation to her growing up.

However, thinking back on it now, Maria couldn’t help but wonder if the woman’s words had actually been a warning to her for things to come, and hadn’t just been an elderly mother’s attempt at excusing her son’s cruel and inhuman behavior towards her only grandchild. Maybe her grandmother had somehow known about a separate evil that already lay in wait for her? The woman had been obsessed with the spiritual world in her later years, and often times would talk as if she could see things that hadn’t happened yet.

Which should have been ridiculous to even consider, but Maria felt so off balance right now, that the thought of her grandmother warning her about _him_ years before he’d even come into the picture, didn’t seem all that crazy. But if that really was true, and it _had_ been a warning to her, then why couldn't she have put the piece together back then? Back before she’d let herself get drawn into the very thing she swore time and time again she’d never fall victim to.

“You still with me, Maria? I know you haven’t dropped, but you don’t seem all that present either. You’re actually kind of worrying me now. This is how Clint sometimes gets during a PTSD episode. So if you’re having a flashback or something, just know that I’m here with you now, okay? I’m here with you, and you’re safe. The year is 2007, and you’re in your apartment outside Washington DC.”

Maria grumbled at the continued up and down movement of Natasha’s chest as she spoke, and slowly turned her face back so she was once again resting her cheek on the other woman’s breasts. “Not a flashback, or a panic attack. Just… bad memories in general, sorry,” she explained, wincing as her head had started to pound. “You uh, you wouldn’t by any chance have some _actual_ drugs on your person, would you? I feel like getting high again would make all of this a lot easier to deal with.”

Natasha made a strange, rumbling sound in her throat, which in turn reverberated down through her chest and up into Maria’s skull. “I might. Though I don’t think it’s a good idea introducing you to yet another intoxicant right now. You might enjoy it, or you might end up like Bobbi and be convinced you’re going to stop breathing the moment you stop thinking about whether or not you’re still breathing. Weed’s kind of hit or miss like that.”

“Still probably better than what I’m feeling right now,” Maria admitted, even though the thought of freaking out like that wasn’t at all appealing.

“Could be. Or we could do the adult thing and actually talk about what’s upsetting you so much?” Natasha offered, her hands pushing ever so slightly against Maria’s back.

Maria grumbled in response, but didn’t make any attempt to move off of Natasha’s body. She honestly didn’t care anymore that she was practically pinning the other woman to the bed. If Natasha really didn’t want her laying on top of her anymore, then she would have physically removed her by now. Or at least just asked her to get up. Since she hadn’t done either, Maria was staying put.

“Or I could simply tell you what I think is troubling you, and you can remain silent and passive and just listen to me speak. And if I guess something incorrectly, or you otherwise want to chime in, you can, but if not you can just relax and let me lay it all on the table for you.”

Maria wrinkled her nose at the proposition. She kind of just wanted to fall back asleep at this point, but her very much still full bladder definitely wasn’t going to let that happen. She figured she had another ten or fifteen minutes before she absolutely had to get up and take care of it, so was content to just lay there and let Natasha play fortune teller. What could she possibly say at this point that would be worse than what she already had? There was no way she could know the truth, right?

“Alright, go for it,” Maria agreed, closing her eyes as she prepared herself mentally and physically for storytime.

“Okay, so, I think the reason you hide the fact that you’re Little is because at some point in your late teens you became trapped in an abusive relationship with a Big. This individual damaged you both emotionally and spiritually, though never laid a hand on you physically or sexually. The relationship lasted at minimum a year, though was more likely closer to two or three years. You lived with this person for most of that time period, and only managed to escape by joining the military as soon as you legally could. How am I doing so far?”

The only thing keeping Maria from clenching up into a ball at Natasha’s words, was the very real fear that she might accidentally lose control of her bladder if she did. Of course Natasha would be 100% on the money. She was SHIELD’s top spy for fuck’s sake. Maria understood though that she didn’t actually have to respond, that it was more of a rhetorical question than anything else. Even so, she lifted a shaky hand up to her face and pressed her pointer finger to her nose.

Natasha took a brief moment to clear her throat, as well as bring a hand further up Maria’s back and towards her neck, her fingers gently toying with the edges of her hair. “Okay, continuing on. You lied to the army about your status as a Little, which meant having to suppress and hide your drops. Despite having to isolate yourself from everyone around you, I think you were happy for the first time in perhaps forever. And if not for the roadside IED that took out your entire squad you might have made a career out of it.”

Even though Maria had known it was coming, it still hurt something deep inside her chest to hear that part of her history recited back to her. It wasn’t a secret though, what had happened to her in the army, or why she’d eventually been discharged from it. And by now there was no doubt that Natasha had, at some point or other, illegally hacked into her personnel files at SHIELD. She wasn’t upset at the violation of her privacy though, since it meant not having to eventually explain the incident herself.

“And then, when you eventually joined SHIELD, you once again lied about your status, even though SHIELD’s policies towards Bigs and Littles ended up being vastly different from how you thought they would be. But by then it was too late to come clean, and so you decided to hide your Littleself away, confined solely to this apartment in the hopes that no one would ever find out that she existed.”

“No, not _just_ this apartment. There’s a small playground a few blocks over. I let her play there sometimes at night, or in the winter when there’s no other kids or Littles around to see us,” Maria offered meekly. Natasha’s hand had drifted further upwards and was now currently petting the back of her head, the woman’s palm smoothing over her hair in a repetitive, soothing motion.

“Really not helping your case there, hon. Besides, six year olds shouldn’t be playing outside by themselves. This isn’t really the best neighborhood, as your break in attempt from last night would prove.” Natasha shifted a little beneath Maria’s body, a small whimper escaping her lips from the discomfort Maria’s weight was no doubt causing her.

Deciding now was as good a time as any, Maria slowly rolled off of Natasha’s body and onto the mattress next to her, before continuing on and rolling fully off of the bed and onto her feet. “Fuck I gotta pee,” she winced, her thighs pressing together as she straightened her body into a fully upright position. “There’s a bathroom across the hall if you need,” she told Natasha over her shoulder as she shuffled her way across the room and to her ensuite.

Shutting the door behind her, Maria’s body instantly sagged as the heaviness of the past few minute’s revelations started to catch up with her. She’d never told a soul about any of this, and yet somehow Natasha seemed to know her entire life story, and was able to sum it up in under five minutes. Slumping against the sink, Maria quickly ran the water and splashed it onto her face.

What was she supposed to do now? It had been easy pretending that nothing had happened after the last incident, but this one felt different. _Was_ different. She hadn’t woken up cuddled against Natasha last time, or at least, it hadn’t progressed in the same manner as it had done tonight. Which also begged the question as to why? Why was this drop different from the last one? Shouldn’t _that_ have been her maiden voyage?

Groaning in frustration at all the things she still didn’t know, Maria reluctantly went about her business, opting to brush her teeth as well since she knew she wasn’t getting back to sleep again tonight. She didn’t even know what time it was, though it must have been before six since it was still dark outside. That meant she’d only been asleep for at most 5 or 6 hours, assuming it had been around midnight when they’d gone to bed.

“The fuck am I gonna do?” she muttered to herself under her breath as she stared across at her reflection in the mirror over the sink. She looked like shit, to be honest, but didn’t want to risk taking a shower now and having Natasha leave before she’d finished. As much as she really didn’t want to continue their conversation, she knew they couldn’t leave it like they had. They had to figure out what this meant moving forward, something she knew Natasha had wanted to discuss after the last time, but Maria had skillfully managed to avoid talking to her about.

There was one thing she _did_ know for certain though, and that was that she wasn’t going back out there in her mismatched yellow bumblebee and purple panda pajamas. Frowning as she realized she didn’t have any clean clothes in her bathroom, Maria opted to grab the last thing she’d tossed into her hamper, which ended up being a pair of SHIELD sweatpants and a navy blue tank top. At least she hadn’t been working out in them, but had just been using them as loungewear before she’d changed into her Little pajamas the night before.

Once she was changed, she finally reopened the door back into her bedroom, only to pause in her spot when she saw Natasha kneeling on the floor in front of her dresser. “Nosy much? I thought you _didn’t_ want me to shoot you,” Maria remarked, crossing her arms over her chest as she walked back into the room and over to her.

“Still don't, thanks. It’s just…” Natasha hesitated, rubbing the back of her neck as she looked between the open dresser drawer and Maria. “Is this really everything you own? Or is it just the stuff you use most often, so you keep it easily on hand?”

Maria chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, unsure if the other woman was judging her or pitying her. Sighing, she lowered herself down onto the floor next to Natasha, though not before briefly glancing over her things. Once again she couldn’t help the small smile that spread across her face as she looked at her stuff. It may not have been impressive in terms of quantity, but each item was special to her in it’s own way.

“Yeah, this is everything I have right now. I mean, I know it’s not much when compared to the literal toy store you and your siblings have at home, but since it’s only me I don’t really need that much,” Maria explained, reaching tentatively into her drawer and running her fingers over the fabric of the pajama top that was currently on display. It was mostly purple with blue and pink elephants on it, and honestly would have gone a whole lot better with her pink and purple pajama pants last night then the stupid yellow one Natasha had picked out. The bumblebee top was only meant to go with the green shorts near the bottom of the pile.

“You mean, since there’s only one of you that lives here? Or since it’s _you_ , and you don’t think you deserve more than a handful of things?” Natasha responded carefully, her tone less confrontational than her words would have otherwise suggested.

Nevertheless, Maria felt herself bristling at the unspoken accusation. “Does it really matter? I’m not starving myself or anything, I just don’t feel the need to have a lot of unnecessary things. I mean, who really needs so much junk that you can’t walk around without tripping over it? You can’t possibly play with it all at once, so it’s just _stupid_ , and you’re being _stupid_.” Maria crossed her arms over her chest as she wrinkled her nose at the other woman.

Natasha’s eyebrows rose nearly to her hairline at Maria’s childish comment, and a huge grin quickly spread across her face. “Really? You want to play _that_ game with a two year old? I’ve got two older siblings, Maria, there’s nothing you can call me that I haven’t already been called a million times. Besides, it’s not stupid to have a lot of things. It’s stupid to deny yourself things just because you don’t think you’re worth buying them for.”

“That’s not what I said,” Maria countered back, frowning. “I could buy myself more stuff, I just don’t want to, okay?” She started to push her drawer closed, feeling self conscious now.

Natasha quickly reached out and stopped the motion, setting her hands on the drawer and pulling it back open. “I know you _could,_ Maria. I’m just trying to find out why you _don’t._ ”

Maria took her hands back and placed them into her lap, not wanting to fight over her furniture. “I dunno, Natasha. You’re the fortune teller, why don’t you tell me why I don’t own a billion and one stupid things?” She offered, putting the ball back in the other woman’s court. She knew that there wasn't a psychologically traumatic reason that she didn’t have a lot of Little things, so whatever Natasha came up with wouldn’t be able to hurt her like before.

“Alright, well, I’m thinking maybe it’s the same reason Clint never used to like buying things for himself. He didn’t want to get attached to things just to have them taken away by someone bigger or more powerful than him,” Natasha explained, shifting off her knees so she could sit properly on the floor. “And even though he’s an adult now and is physically capable of defending his possessions, he still struggles sometimes to invest himself emotionally in more than a few things at a time.”

Until that moment, Maria had never really considered that there might actually be something behind her minimalist lifestyle. She’d always assumed that the reason she didn’t go out and buy herself an entire apartment's worth of stuff was because she was a practical person, and knew that she’d never play with even a fraction of what she’d end up taking home. It seemed selfish then, to have more than few things, especially when there were actual children out there who had very little themselves.

But now that she thought about it, maybe there _was_ something to Natasha’s assessment after all. Getting to play with toys had always been a condition of being a ‘good girl’, both with her father and with _him._ She shuddered subconsciously at the thought of all the hoops she’d had to jump through just to be allowed a coloring book and some crayons.

Instinctively she reached inside of her dresser drawer and pulled out her vintage Lisa Frank Trapper Keeper full of computer printed coloring pages. She hugged the binder to her chest a moment before slowly lowering it to rest in her lap. “Maybe Barton and I have a little more in common than I originally thought. Still, I really don’t want a lot of Little things. It feels nicer playing with stuff that has a story behind it, ya know? Stuff that’s important to me.”

“Like your binder?” Natasha asked, nodding her head towards the notebook Maria had absently begun drawing on with her fingertips. “Is there a story behind it? It’s certainly very... colorful. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen office supplies like that before.”

Maria couldn’t help but smirk a little at the ‘colorful’ comment. Of course Natasha would have missed the Lisa Frank era of fashionable stationery, having grown up the way that she did. “It’s sort of a ‘90s kid thing. I had one of these when I was an actual child, and thought it would be fun to have one now for coloring paper and stuff. Of course I had no idea they were essentially collectors items these days and practically impossible to find. I ended up getting this one off of ebay for 75 bucks. It has puffins on it, which are kind of like ducks. There were ones with horses and puppies on them that were cheaper, but I wanted this one. I'd just gotten my first SHIELD paycheck, so figured it was okay to splurge a little on a silly binder.”

As she talked, Maria felt her cheeks growing red with embarrassment, a feeling that only got worse when she glanced up and saw the way that Natasha was now looking at her, as if she were the most precious thing in the world. “What?” she asked, reaching up and brushing some of her hair behind her ear. She felt incredibly self conscious in that moment, though not necessarily in a bad way.

“You were smiling just now, as you told me that story. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile like that before. Outside of your Little headspace, I mean. It was nice.” It was Natasha’s turn to look somewhat self conscious, though Maria wasn’t really sure why. She’d understood it to be a compliment, and she rather liked getting compliments from Natasha these days. It felt different to when Coulson, or even Fury praised her on things. Maybe it was part of the ‘Littles affecting other Littles’ thing?

“Do you at least understand now why I only have a few things? Because I swear to god if you’re thinking of dragging an entire toy store into my apartment, we’re definitely going to have problems moving forward,” Maria cautioned. She could tell from Natasha’s suddenly crestfallen expression that that’s _exactly_ what she’d been planning on doing.

“Not even stuff to make you up a Little bedroom? I understand the toys thing, and I won’t push you on that for now, but seriously, Maria, you shouldn’t sleep in here when you’re Little. It’s not healthy to associate your adult bed with naptime. That’s where _other_ activities are meant to happen, if you know what I mean.”

Maria did know what she meant, but shrugged her shoulders indifferently. “Natasha, everyone think’s I’m a Big. I can’t have sex, not unless I want to end up on a registry, or in jail,” Maria explained, lifting her puffin binder and hugging it once more to her chest. The fact that Natasha hadn’t already realized the ethical dilemma she was in kind of surprised her actually.

It was illegal and immoral for a Big to have sex with a Little, in the same way it was illegal and immoral for an adult to have sex with a child. Since Maria was lying about her status, it meant she couldn’t sleep with Bigs _or_ Littles, not without her or her partner effectively committing a crime. Sure, she could stop lying long enough to find a random Little to sleep with, but she honestly had no interest in impersonal one night stands. If or when she ever managed to successfully be intimate with someone, she wanted it to be the real deal.

“Yes, I recognize the fact that you’ve screwed yourself over in terms of ever having a physical relationship with someone else, but that’s not actually what I was referring to,” Natasha explained, holding up her right hand and wiggling her fingers. “Can you look me in the eyes and honestly tell me you’ve never rubbed one out in that bed?”

Maria was pretty certain her face was now as pink as the binder she was holding, but since there was no point in lying to Natasha, she slowly shook her head.

“Thought so. Now look, I’m not suggesting we go raid an Ikea or anything, but we should at least get you a kids bed, a dresser, and maybe some sort of storage for your toys. I’m assuming the door next to your hall bathroom is the spare bedroom, right? Is it empty?”

Maria nodded her head as she fidgeted with the notebook in her arms. “Pretty much, yeah. I was originally going to turn it into an office but just never got around to it,” she explained, finally deciding to put her binder away before shutting the dresser drawer completely. “I just- I just don’t want anything crazy, alright? If you’re going to insist on me doing this, then at least let me have the final say on what we buy. I don’t need a special made-to-order bed, so no treehouses or monster trucks or anything ridiculous like that.”

“What about a nest? If I could get you a special made-to-order nest, would that be alright?”

Maria shook her head quickly, much to Natasha’s apparent surprise. “No, I don’t want a nest. Nests are for dealing with bad times, and I don’t want to recreate my childhood bedroom with this. A regular bed off the floor is fine.” Maria shuffled her legs around, leaning forward so she could push herself up off the ground and back onto her feet. As she stood up she felt her back crack in at least two different places, and groaned quietly in pleasure at the resulting sensation.

Turning around, she held a hand out to Natasha, offering her assistance to her own two feet.

“Thanks, and gotcha, about the regular bed. I can work with that. We _are_ getting you a duck related comforter set, though. Unless you’d prefer something more seizure inducingly psychedelic? Like your notebook, I mean?” Natasha asked as she allowed Maria to help her up.

Maria actually shuddered at the thought. “No thank you. One, I’d never be able to fall asleep from the business of it all, and two, if a binder cost me 75 bucks, how much do you think a full bed set would cost? If they even exist, that is. Duck’s are fine, or just something blue in general.”

“Nah, solid colors are boring. Ria definitely deserves something cooler than that,” Natasha insisted as she straightened her own back and twisted her torso from side to side. “Something with personality, that doesn’t look like it belongs in a showroom somewhere.”

“How come you keep calling me that? Ria? Is that supposed to be my Little nickname? Like how everyone calls you Natty when you’re dropped?” Maria asked as she slowly made her way towards the door. She made a gesture with her head that Natasha should follow her, and together they made their way down the hallway and into her living room. “I need some coffee. You want some before you take off?” she asked, wanting to provide the other woman an easy out incase she was didn’t want to stick around that much longer.

“Okay firstly, not everyone calls me that. Just you, Coulson, Bobbi, and Clint. And secondly, yes it’s meant to be a nickname for your Littleself. But if you’d rather I didn’t distinguish between the two of you like that I can stop doing it and just call you both Maria? And no thank you, to the coffee. It’ll mess with my stomach if I drink caffeine this early.” Natasha had begun looking around the living room, presumably for her shoes and whatever else she’d brought with her the night before.

It was stupid to feel disappointed in the fact that the other woman _did_ apparently want to leave, but Maria couldn’t help the small twinge in her chest as she watched Natasha triumphantly spot her shoes sticking out from beneath the side of the couch. “I’m okay with the nickname. As long as it stays between us, and you never call me that at work,” she called over her shoulder as she continued on into her kitchen in order to turn her coffee machine on. Just because Natasha didn’t want any, didn’t mean she had to punish herself as well.

“ _Obviously_ ,” Natasha responded from the other room, and Maria was fairly certain she could hear the eye roll in the woman’s voice. “You gonna be okay if I head home before the sun is fully up? I kind of have a date with Bobbi to go running this morning. If I’m not there by sunrise she’ll wake Clint up to go with her instead, and then I’ll never hear the end of it.”

Maria tapped impatiently at the counter as her coffee started to brew. “Yeah, I’m good. You don’t have to stay here and babysit me all day. I’m fine now, or will be once this slow ass piece of junk finishes,” Maria grumbled, loud enough that Natasha would still be able to hear her from the other room. She didn't realize that the other woman had come into the kitchen as well until she heard the unmistakable squeak of trainers on the laminate floor directly behind her.

Turning around quickly, Maria gripped at her chest with her hand as her heart nearly shot up into her throat at the fright of being snuck up on. “Holy shit! You’re lucky I didn’t have my coffee yet or I might have _actually_ shot you just now,” she exclaimed, leaning back against the countertop as she tried to regain her wits about her. Maybe she wasn’t as fine as she’d just said she was? Not that it mattered, since Natasha was obviously intent on leaving one way or another.

“Duly noted. Maybe I’ll bring a bell with me to wear next time,” Natasha smirked, stepping back a ways and leaning her hip against an adjacent countertop. There was a good five or six feet between them now, but Maria would have sworn that she could still feel the other woman’s body heat. “You sure you’re alright? Thing’s got pretty intense earlier, with all that information I dropped into your lap. I wouldn’t think any less of you if you were having trouble processing it all.”

Maria frowned, even though she knew the other woman’s concern was coming from a place of caring and not ridicule. Still, she shrugged her shoulders, trying to seem nonchalant or indifferent about the whole matter. “If I thought we wouldn’t have another chance to discuss this, I might be more reluctant to let you go so soon. I still have some questions, obviously, but I can shelve those until a later date.”

Natasha cocked her head to the side slightly as she studied Maria’s posture and expression. “Speaking of dates, are you busy later today? We could go grab a coffee, or some lunch. Maybe bring it back here, if you want to pick my brain some more? And then afterwards we can do some looking around online for items for your new room. If you’re not busy, that is.” Now it was Natasha’s turn to act nonchalant, which didn’t really suit her at all. It was obvious though that she really did want to meet up later that afternoon, so Maria nodded her head in what she hoped was a genuine, but not too eager fashion.

“Yeah, sure, that sounds great. How about one o’clock? There’s this really awesome Thai place three blocks over, we can meet there and then come back here?” Maria offered, all too aware of the blush slowly creeping up her cheeks.

Even though she still considered her apartment to be her safe space, it didn't feel at all scary or uncomfortable to so readily invite Natasha back over. Instead, it felt easy and natural, and maybe even a little bit exciting? Before Maria could over analyze that particular feeling, another one quickly crept up on her as she found herself being drawn into an unexpected, though not unwelcome hug.

“I’m proud of you for calling me last night. I recognize how hard it must have been to make that decision, and I wanted you to know how honored I am that you trusted me enough to reach out to me in a moment like that. I’ll always have your back, Maria, regardless of which headspace you’re in. We’ll figure this out, don’t you worry,” Natasha told her as they embraced.

Maria felt her face burning even hotter at the openness of the moment, finding the hug to be much more intimate than anything they’d been doing in the bed earlier. It still wasn’t a sexual intimate, just a feeling of closeness that she couldn’t deny she was starting to become addicted to. She didn’t know what to say in response to Natasha’s words though, afraid anything she could come up with would fall short of what she actually felt.

If she were in her Little headspace she could kiss her Auntie Nat on the cheek and it would have been acceptable, but since she wasn’t, she settled for simply returning the embrace until finally Natasha began to pull away.

“So yeah, I need to get going. You go relax and enjoy your morning. Drink some coffee. Maybe do some browsing online while I’m gone? After lunch we’ll start making plans on what to do about your apartment. How does that sound?” Natasha asked as she took a few steps back, reaching for the bag and keys she’d previously set on the kitchen counter.

Maria had honestly forgotten about her coffee, but nodded her head just the same. “Sounds good. You’ll call me if you have any trouble finding the restaurant?” she asked, even though she had no doubt Natasha would find the right place. At Natasha’s cheesy double thumbs up, she rolled her eyes and waved her hand at the woman. “Alright, go. Get out of here before your boyfriend blames you for being woken up at the ass crack of dawn.”

Natasha laughed at that. “Okay then, I’ll see you at one,” she called over her shoulder as she turned and strode out of the kitchen, leaving Maria alone now with her coffee and her thoughts.


End file.
